Publication Extenders and Modular Content
Pubrica plans and produces publication extenders, including plain language summaries, infographics, video and audio abstracts and podcasts, for publication teams and sponsors. Extenders reach audiences who do not read the journal, such as patients and clinicians who will not open the full article. GPP 2022 brought them explicitly into scope, so they carry the same transparency obligations as the manuscript. Our publication planners plan each extender with the paper and build it from shared evidence modules.
- In scope under GPP 2022, which extended to plain language summaries and other enhanced content, so funding, authorship and writing support are disclosed on these outputs too
- Planned alongside the manuscript, because a plain language summary written at submission costs less than one commissioned six months later as a new project
- Built as reusable modules, so one evidence module is reused across a summary, an infographic and a slide without re-deriving the same numbers
- Accuracy preserved at every simplification, because a lay summary that changes the finding is worse than no summary
- Journal and publisher policies checked, since many now host extenders themselves and set their own format and licensing rules
Planned with the manuscriptIncluded
GPP 2022 disclosure appliedIncluded
Modular reuse across formatsIncluded
Accuracy checked at each simplificationIncluded
Promotional framing of a publicationNot offered
Paper → modules → formats → checked → reach
- Planned with the paper
- Disclosed as GPP 2022 requires
- Built from shared modules
- Accuracy verified against the source
- Prepared to the journal’s own policy
Deliverables
Four Components of Every Publication Extender Package
The paper is the scientific record. Extenders help readers outside the journal’s audience find and understand it.
Example from project planningA plain language summary commissioned six months after publication requires someone to re-derive numbers from a PDF, which costs more and introduces errors.
Example from a disclosure reviewExtenders are often produced by a different agency under a separate contract, and the disclosure that was carefully stated on the manuscript can be lost.
Example from a module libraryThree agencies produce three versions of the primary endpoint.One module: the effect size, the confidence interval, the population and the caveat. It renders three ways and says the same thing in all three, because it is the same object.
Example from an accuracy checkThe treatment worked better than the comparator.In this study, people taking the treatment were about a third less likely to be admitted to hospital over a year. The result was clear enough that it is unlikely to be chance. Same finding, same strength, readable.
The samples shown are illustrative and anonymised. Hover over a sample to replay it.
Compliance and Standards
Publication Extender Standards: GPP 2022, ICMJE and COPE
Enhanced content falls within the scope of publication guidelines.
GPP 2022 (good publication practice)
The 2022 update replaces GPP3. It covers company-sponsored research, including translational, biomarker and real-world studies, and extends to preprints, plain language summaries and social media. Professional medical writing support is legitimate, provided it is disclosed.
ICMJE Recommendations (authorship and disclosure)
Sets four criteria, all of which each author must meet. Contributors who do not meet all four are acknowledged. Employment by the sponsor neither qualifies nor disqualifies anyone.
COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics)
Covers authorship disputes, redundant publication, undisclosed conflicts and the handling of corrections, which are the standards a journal applies when a problem arises.
Quality management (cert. H3CR9TCU20251212INDQM10N)
Our certified quality system governs how work is run, recorded and released.
Responsible Use of AI
Our Approach to AI Use in Publication Extenders
Medical affairs work must distinguish scientific exchange from promotion, a boundary that regulators monitor. That judgement depends on context, jurisdiction and the individuals involved, so it is always made by our specialists rather than by an AI tool.
Why We Do Not Publish AI Accuracy Figures
Accuracy figures for AI tools are usually reported by the companies that sell them.
Pubrica therefore does not quote a self-generated accuracy figure, because it would carry the same conflict of interest. Instead, we tell you which tool was used on your project, at which stage, and what a specialist changed afterwards.
Our Process
How Our Publication Extender Process Works
We start while the manuscript is still being written, when extenders are least costly to plan.
Planning with the paper
We choose formats for each audience and scope the extender package while the manuscript is in draft.
Module development
We build each key result once as a module, with its number, context and caveat, ready to render in any format.
Format production
We produce the plain language summary, infographic, video or audio abstract, slides and podcast from the modules rather than from the PDF.
Accuracy check and disclosure
We check every simplification against the source and disclose funding, sponsor role and writing support on each output.
Our Experts
Your Publication Extender Team
A named team of subject specialists stays with your project from scoping to delivery. Your project coordinator introduces each team member by name before work begins.
Reviews the scientific content for accuracy and confirms that each conclusion is supported by the evidence. Each expert is matched to your field.
Writes the content against the brief and the applicable code of practice, with every claim traceable to its reference.
Reviews the content for scientific accuracy, fair balance and compliance with the applicable code before it reaches your internal review.
Manages the timeline, keeps you informed at each stage and coordinates the team so that questions are answered and deadlines are met.
Packages
Publication Extender Packages
Costs depend on the number of formats and papers. Each additional format costs much less than the first.
Extender package
For one publication
Quoted per projectBased on format count
Delivery Agreed at scoping
- ✓Formats chosen against audience
- ✓Modules built from the manuscript
- ✓Each format rendered from the modules
- ✓Accuracy checked at every simplification
- ✓Disclosure applied to each output
- ✓Journal policy checked
We recommend commissioning the package with the manuscript. The same package after publication costs more and is less accurate.
Deliverables Request a quoteProgramme-wide
For a publication plan with many outputs
Quoted per projectBased on publication and format count
Delivery Agreed at scoping
- ✓Module library across the programme
- ✓Consistent numbers across every output
- ✓Format standards set once
- ✓Extenders scheduled with the plan
- ✓Disclosure practice standardised
The module library produces the saving. By the fourth paper, most modules already exist.
Deliverables Request a quotePlain language summaries
For patient-facing summaries at volume
Quoted per projectBased on publication count
Delivery Agreed at scoping
- ✓Written and tested for the patient audience
- ✓Findings preserved at full strength
- ✓Caveats retained
- ✓Disclosure per GPP 2022
- ✓Translated where the study was multinational
These summaries are distinct from the EU CTR plain language summary, which is a regulatory deliverable with its own template.
Deliverables Request a quoteSend a recent paper and we will produce a plain language summary at no cost, so you can see how simplification affects your findings before commissioning a programme.
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions About Publication Extenders
If your question is not answered here, please ask an expert. No quote is required.
Yes. GPP 2022 brought plain language summaries and enhanced content into scope, so funding, sponsor role and professional writing support are disclosed on them too.
Disclosure is the most common gap, because extenders are often produced under a separate contract by a team that did not see the manuscript disclosure.
No. The EU Clinical Trials Regulation lay summary is a regulatory deliverable with a defined template and timeline, submitted to CTIS.
A publication plain language summary accompanies a paper and follows GPP 2022 and the journal’s policy. The two are different documents with different obligations and are often confused.
It depends on the audience you need to reach: a plain language summary for patients, an infographic for clinicians who scan, a video abstract where the journal hosts one, and a podcast where clinicians in the field listen to them.
Producing every format for every paper increases cost without necessarily improving reach.
No. Extenders summarise a scientific publication and carry its disclosures. Framing one promotionally turns it into promotional material, subject to promotional rules.
Where a brief is genuinely promotional, it is different work under different rules and should be commissioned as such.
Related Services
Related Publication and Communication Services
Pubrica also provides most of these formats as individual services.
1INDIVIDUAL FORMATSindividual services
Simplified abstract and lay summaryFor patients and the public. Infographic abstractA one-page, scannable summary.2VIDEO AND AUDIOadditional formats
Video abstractFor journals that host video abstracts. Audio abstractFor audiences who prefer listening.3PUBLICATION PLANNINGupstream
Publication planningScheduling extenders within the plan. Scientific platformDefining what may be said.Request a Free Plain Language Summary of a Recent Paper
You will see how simplification affects your findings before committing to a programme.